Apple’s Chicago-based education-focused event has been and gone, which invariably means it’s time to focus on something else.

Kicking off the speculation cycle pertaining to next Apple Watch, Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities is tipping his hat to suggest that new Apple Watch models are coming later this year featuring a total redesign.

While many have been focusing on, and talking about, Apple’s iPhone and iPad plans, it’s evident that KGI has been keeping a laser-focus on all Apple products and potential roadmap items, including the potential of new Apple Watch models coming in this fall.

The analyst believes that Apple’s new Apple Watch – potentially called Series 4 – will come with a redesigned aesthetic, improved health monitoring, longer battery life, and a larger display which offers apps and visual services approximately 15% more screen real estate.

Apple Watch has managed to collect its fair share of fans over the years with accumulative sales making it one of the most popular wearables on the market and even one of the most popular wristwatches in the world. However, it’s fair to suggest that a redesign is on the cards considering all models released so far since 2015 have had the same physical design. As part of that redesign, Kuo of KGI Securities believes that consumers will have access to approximately 15% more screen real estate, but it’s currently unknown how Apple will achieve that and whether or not the overall size of the watch will grow in size to match the larger display.

It’s possible that Apple could come up with some product design magic and infuse it with advanced engineering techniques to reduce the bezels on the display in order to achieve the display gains. However, other information on the redesign and improvements are slightly vague at this moment.

We can only imagine that improvements to the health monitoring aspect of the hardware will come through the integration of better or more capable sensors, but, like other aspects of this report, detailed information is not currently forthcoming.

In terms of device popularity and the future sales of Apple Watch, KGI is predicting 2018 sales of around the 22 million units mark, which represents a return of approximately 30% year-on-year since Apple Watch was released to the public.

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How about a proper apps menu rather than the horrible floating circles

csimon2

Integrate TouchID into the display. Forget the iPhone, the Watch is where that tech is needed most in an Apple product. I’d be willing to upgrade solely for that addition, as having to enter a 6-digit code on a tiny screen every time you put the watch on is a major pain in the ass and feels like a major step back.